Former District of Columbia Public Schools Official Found Guilty in Bribery Scheme
Defendant Schemed to Overcharge DCPS for Under-Delivered Goods
WASHINGTON (June 24, 2025) — Dana Garnett, 61, a former contract specialist for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), was found guilty today by a federal jury for her role in a conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud that illegally steered lucrative DCPS business to local vendors while also agreeing to defraud DCPS by accepting significantly fewer quantities of supplies than had been ordered by DCPS. In exchange, the local vendors paid kickbacks and bribes to Garnett for years. Garnett faces 15 years in prison as a result of the conviction.
The verdict was announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, Assistant Director in Charge Steven J. Jensen of the FBI Washington Field Office, and Daniel W. Lucas, Inspector General for the District of Columbia.
The jury found Garnett guilty of three counts of conspiracy to commit an official act, three counts of wire fraud, and three counts of bribery following a week-long trial before Judge Amit P. Mehta.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, during the course of at least five years, Garnett, of Hyattsville, Maryland, accepted payments from several vendors who supplied goods to DCPS. In exchange, Garnett steered business to the vendors. Some of the payments were generated from falsified orders awarded to the vendors that had been paid in full by DCPS.
Garnett and a DCPS co-conspirator who had pleaded guilty before trial coordinated with the vendors to deliver a lesser amount of goods than were listed on the orders. Based on false certifications made by or with the knowledge of Garnett, DCPS paid the full amount of the orders as if the orders had been fulfilled in full. The vendors then provided cash to Garnett and her co-conspirator in various locations in the D.C. and Maryland area, including in the parking lots of restaurants in strip malls. Evidence presented at trial showed that Garnett used the payments for gambling expenses and a major household appliance.
Three related defendants have accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty to their roles in the bribery conspiracy.
Patricia Bailey, a former administrative officer for DCPS’s Cardozo Education Campus, pleaded guilty on Oct. 12, 2023, to one count of bribery for her participation in the scheme.
Duane King, the owner of DCPS vendor American Business Supplies, pleaded to one count of bribery on Sept. 27, 2023. King additionally pleaded guilty to his role in a similar scheme in which King made bribe payments to District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Services Department (DC FEMS) employees Charity Keys and Louis Mitchell in return for the award of business by DC FEMS to King’s company and for the authorization of payments to King’s company for goods that were not actually delivered.
Donald McWhirter, the owner of DCPS vendor General Business Supplies Unlimited, also pleaded guilty to one count of bribery on July 18, 2024.
Sentencing is pending for each of the three defendants who have pleaded guilty.
Yelake Meseretu, 41, owner of U.S. Office Solutions, a supplier of goods to DCPS, is charged as a co-defendant with bribery and wire fraud in exchange for having Garnett direct business to Meseretu’s company. Meseretu’s trial is pending.
This case was investigated by FBI’s Washington Field Office and the District of Columbia Office of the Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher R. Howland and John Borchert of the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section.
